What the Free World Doesn't Know About Terrorism

This is not a politically correct article. This newsletter is not normally political as our focus is on Israel's spiritual, prophetic resurrection. Nevertheless, some things need to be said.

President George Bush has clearly stated that America's war on terror is not a war against Islam. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is even gentler: "We are not at war against Islam or the Arab-Muslim world." "In fact," he said, "We are not at war." (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 16, 2001) The leaders of Great Britain and Germany are adamant that this conflict not be seen as the West against Islam. The Democratic Free World abhors war (for the most part) and intensely dislikes being seen as intolerant of other world religions.

This is where the problem lies. True, we are not at war with the world's Arab citizens who are among the most warm and hospitable of peoples. However, a powerful force known as radical Islam has declared war on us, whether we acknowledge it or not. Not all Muslims are at war with us; many are peace-loving peoples who have no ax to grind with the non-Muslim world. These moderate Muslims claim that Islam is against jihad (holy war), and it appears they genuinely believe that. But the fact is, there are fundamental elements in the Muslim religion that cause adherents in every major branch of Islam to be potentially deadly enemies of the Western democratic nations.

Here is the awful truth. Radical Islam is absolutely, utterly and totally at war with the world's Western Democratic nations.

The basic tenets of the Koran and canonized interpretations by its holy sages have given rise to the horrors now terrorizing the Western World. The "god" of the Islamic holy book, the Koran, calls for jihad against the infidels (non-Muslims) until Islam reigns supreme throughout the world. (David Dolan Sept. 17, 01 www.ddolan.com) As impossible as it is to comprehend, radical Islam's express goal is to destroy the democratic Free World physically and/or financially and to replace her with a fundamentalist Islamic world order.

TRUE BELIEVERS MUST FIGHT FOR ALLAH

Though moderate Muslims may quote seemingly peace-loving verses in the Koran, there are clearly other Islamic scriptures that have given license to any action that leads to the ultimate defeat of the infidels, who are particularly identified as Christians and Jews. Among them are those found in Sura 4:74 and 76: "Let those who would exchange the life of this world for the hereafter, fight for the cause of Allah; whether they die or conquer, We shall richly reward them…The true believers fight for the cause of Allah, but the infidels fight for their idols. Fight then against the friends of Satan." (David Dolan, Sept. 18, 01)

Sadly, Islamic preachers and scholars, using these verses from the Koran, are avidly encouraging suicide atrocities against the West - especially Christians and Jews who are the infidels. A few days before the terrorist attack in the U.S., the Jerusalem mufti (Islamic religious ruler) preached, "The White House will turn black, with God's help, and America, England and Israel should be destroyed." (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 16, 01) We must face the facts: The great majority of terrorist organizations in the entire world are devout fundamentalist Muslim. Other millions of Muslims sympathize with the goals and the methods of these killers. For example, eighty per cent of Palestinians are in favor of suicide terrorist attacks in Israel.

Tommy Lapid, member of the Israeli Knesset and head of the Shinui party, himself a holocaust survivor and professed atheist, says that the radical Islamics' target is the Judeo-Christian civilization that doesn't accept the Koran. To these Muslim radicals, says Lapid, "the U.S. and Israel are the large and the small devils, but Western and even Eastern Europe aren't much better. They must be destroyed in a world-embracing jihad in the name of Allah and his prophet, Muhammad." (Ibid., Sep. 14, 01)

Charles Krauthammer, the conservative Washington Post columnist, says it like it really is: "The enemy has identified itself in public and openly.Our delicate sensibilities have prevented us from pronouncing its name.

"Its name is radical Islam. Not Islam as practiced peacefully by millions of the faithful around the world. But a specific fringe political movement, dedicated to imposing its fanatical ideology on is own societies and destroying the society of its enemies, the greatest of which is the United States." (Ibid., Sept. 13,01)

With foresight that perhaps only a war-weary Israeli could have, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wrote in his book Fighting Terrorism in 1995: "Extremist Islamic terrorist organizations nullify in large measure the need to have air power or intercontinental missiles as delivery systems for an Islamic nuclear payload. The terrorists themselves will be the delivery system. In the worst of such scenarios, the consequences could be not a car bomb but a nuclear bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center.

"What this new terrorism portends for America and the world and what can be done about it has not yet been sufficiently understood. The growth of terrorism [is now] capable of bringing down entire buildings. The very real possibility that terrorist states and organizations may soon acquire horrific weapons of mass destruction and use them to escalate terrorism beyond our wildest nightmares has not yet been addressed properly by Western governments." Netanyahu goes on to say that with Iran and Iraq wielding atomic weapons, "the world is on the verge of an abyss and most political leaders have not properly gauged its depth." (Ibid., Sept. 14, 2001)

Tommy Lapid cautions, "As cruel and horrifying as were the death and destruction in Washington and New York, they were only a warning.

"This warning said, 'We, the terrorists, are sufficiently determined to execute the most daring missions; we are rich enough to finance missions costing a lot of money; we are sufficiently dedicated to our sacred ideal to commit suicide in its cause; we are sufficiently sophisticated to overcome all the police forces and intelligence organizations of the Western world; and we hate you so much that we will not hesitate to destroy your cities and wipe out millions of infidels like you if the opportunity arises.'" (Ibid., Sept.14, 01)

SUICIDE "MARTYRS" AWAIT THEIR HEAVENLY REWARD

A second component in Islam's holy literature has created the particular deadly cocktail of this 21st century. Islam teaches that heaven is a place of great erotic delights. On Sixty Minutes, Bob Simon interviewed Muhammad Abu Wardeh who told Simon, "God would compensate the martyr [i.e. suicide bombers and the like] for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness."

Although Arab Americans say that there is nothing in Islamic teachings about virgins or sex in paradise, Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, head of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community and a true Islamic scholar, lists a number of prominent Islamic references about the delights of sex with heavenly virgins. (They can be reviewed on www.jpost.com in the article by Naomi Ragen, Sept. 6, 01)

Through this teaching, says Ragen, "Horny Arab teenagers are being convinced the way to sex in the puritanical Arab world (where fathers routinely murder daughters who are even suspected of losing their virginity), is through hate-filled mass murders." (Ibid.)

USA Today ran a story on June 26, 2001 about young suicide bombers. They sent a reporter to Gaza and the West Bank to interview families of past and would-be suiciders.

"'I am very happy and proud of what my son did and, frankly, am a bit jealous,' says Hassan Hotari, 54, father of Saeed, the young man who carried out the attack June 1 outside a disco in Tel Aviv. It was Israel's worst suicide bombing in nearly four years. 'I wish I had done [the bombing]. My son has fulfilled the Prophet's [Mohammed's] wishes. He has become a hero! Tell me, what more could a father ask?'"

USA Today continues: "They [suicide bombers] are also promised something more risqué: unlimited sex with 72 virgins in heaven. The Koran, the sacred book of Islam, describes the women as 'beautiful like rubies, with complexions like diamonds and pearls.' In one of the passages of the Koran, it is said the martyrs and virgins shall 'delight themselves, lying on green cushions and beautiful carpets.'"

"'My prayer is that Saeed's brothers, friends and fellow Palestinians will sacrifice their lives, too,'" Hotari's father says. 'There is no better way to show God you love him.'" (USA Today)

This grotesque, counterfeit description of heaven gives the Islamic terrorist leaders hundreds, if not thousands, of ready candidates to kill themselves as they murder the enemies of Allah and of Islamic world objectives.

ISRAEL AND WORLD TERRORISM

In order for America to successfully fight world terrorism, it is paramount that its government understands that the nation of Israel is fighting for her existence against the same Islamic terrorist groups that hit New York and Washington. On September 14, the Jerusalem Post editors wrote, "Israel has one, supreme, interest at this time - to make the world understand that it is fighting the same evil empire of terror that attacked the United States. It cannot be taken for granted that this is understood…For the past year, we have been banging our head against the wall to get the world to understand that we are not in a 'cycle of violence' but defending ourselves against terror."

Succumbing to pressure from the West, Israel has again and again attempted to make peace with several terrorist organizations, under the auspices of terrorist Yasser Arafat. Now Israelis are saying, "Just as we are urging the United States not to distinguish between terrorists and their sponsors, we have to reexamine our own willingness to consider living next to a dictatorial Palestinian state that is part and parcel of a network of terrorist states and organizations… (JP Sept. 14 ,01) If the radical Islamic terrorist groups create a state next door to Israel, world terrorism will not be eradicated.

However, the Free World continues to somehow look at the Palestinian terrorists as a people's uprising against an occupying, illegitimate Israel which ought to give its country over to the oppressed Muslims. Much of the Free World DOES NOT SEE Arafat as a genuine terrorist. Already, the French Ambassador to Israel Jacques Huntzinger said, "We condemn the terrorist actions in Israel, but the conflict here should not be mixed up with what happened in the United States." Huntzinger explained the US attacks targeted civilians while the Middle East conflict is between nations.

Nations? The Palestinians have never been a nation. Only when Israel defeated the invading Jordanian army which had occupied the West Bank of the ancient land of Israel for 19 years - a land solemnly promised by God to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) - did local Arabs begin to call themselves Palestinians. Most of them had migrated from the surrounding areas to the Holy Land after the Jews began to clear the swamps and rebuild the desolate land in the 50 years preceding Israel’s independence.

The surrounding Arab nations care not a whit about these local Arabs who fled during two different united Arab attacks on the new Jewish nation. These Muslim nations simply realized they could mold these displaced persons into a powerful war machine against the hated infidels - the Jews. By not allowing these Arabs to receive citizenship and/or decent housing in the surrounding Arab nations, and forcing them to live in permanent refugee camps, they crafted out of the feckless peasants a seething, ready-made tool to push the hated Israelis out of the Middle East and into the sea.

Because Israel and the Jewish religion are clearly Islam's infidels, and because Israel happens to be located in the heart of the Islamic sea of nations, Israel became target number ONE in Islam's priority hit list. But there are others on the hit list.

The West just doesn't get it! Over the past few months, Colin Powell has consistently blasted Israel for her attempts to protect herself from terrorist attacks. He has told Israel to "lift the siege as soon as possible," and described Israel's defensive actions as “excessive and disproportionate." Powell has condemned Israel's policy of targeting leading terrorists (but is now considering its use in American operations.)

Israeli leaders becry the fact that the West naively sees Palestinian nationalism portrayed as having the relatively benign goal of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel. However, the Palestinian Authority actually broadcasts daily in Arabic its far more virulent goal of destroying Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state that stretches "from the river to the sea."

Israel's sheer military strength kept Palestinian ideology toned down for years. But when the Oslo process began in 1993 with Israel ready to negotiate peace with the terrorists, the Palestinians saw Israel as weakened and demoralized; Islam's goal was within reach! For that reason, even the U.S.'s "even-handed" attempts to mediate has brought Muslim fury on the U.S government and the American people. This is the reason that Palestinians were dancing in mass on their housetops after the suicide disasters occurred in the U.S.

And now Arafat, the supreme con-man, has told the U.S. that he and his guerrillas are ready to join America in its war against terrorism! That is certainly a wise decision, considering that he could possibly be mistaken for a terrorist himself! If it were not so incredibly dangerous it would be comical. Arafat, one of the most active terrorists on the planet, giving blood for New Yorkers. Arafat suddenly proclaiming a unilateral cessation of his armed guerrillas (who you can be sure will not abide by his "order.") And not only does he want to join the U.S. in its war against terrorism, he is calling on all Moslems states to join with him. It now appears that most of the principal terrorist states are ready to join the coalition against terrorism!

Yet, Arafat's TV station continues to call for total war against Israel. A typical recent statement about Israel that is constantly discharged through all means of Palestinian media: "All weapons must be aimed at the Jews…whom the Koran describes as monkeys and pigs…We will enter Jerusalem as conquerors…Blessings to him who shot a bullet into the head of a Jew." (Ibid., Aug. 31:01)

His terrorist associates broadcast similar epithets against the U.S. The Wall Street Journal admits, "Mr. Arafat and his colleagues have much to answer for. Through their controlled media, the Palestinians and even some of our 'moderate' Arab friends have spewed out anti-American hatred with impunity for years. They have created an environment that made possible the spectacle of schoolchildren in Gaza cheering the news of the American tragedies." (Sept. 14, 01)

Incidentally, this last bit of radical Islamic culture does not serve Arafat's purposes at this time; he has gone to incredible lengths to hush up the widespread Palestinian demonstrations of cheering and celebrating the U.S. catastrophe. The front page of the Jerusalem Post (Sept. 16, 01) states that the Palestinian Authority confiscated videotape, film and other camera equipment from the Palestinian cameramen who are hired by the major networks. The Reuter correspondent in Nablus not only agreed to the PA demand not to film any rally, but also attempted to press his AP counterpart to follow suit. He was unable to reach him in time and so some pictures did initially get out. The AP cameraman later received death threats.

Now it would appear that the American administration led by Powell is asking Israel to not respond to any terrorist attacks upon its people, but rather to continue negotiating with these terrorists. Do we understand that the final result of “successful negotiations” would be the setting up of a terrorist dictatorship on Israel's God-given land, a few minutes and a few miles away from all her major cities? Nevertheless, the U.S. is pressuring Israel so that there will be no disruption in the U.S. attempt to pull Muslim states into her coalition against terror.

ONLY AN ALL-OUT WAR WILL ISLAMIC TERRORISM

We must pray that America's leadership will understand this:

"The enemy is not merely Osama bin Laden or whatever terrorist organization carried out the monstrous attack. The enemy is the states that sponsor terrorists and the ideology that animates them. Merely killing bin Laden would be the equivalent of destroying a kamikaze or Nazi unit while leaving the wartime governments of Japan or Germany in place.

"If the bin Ladens of the world are defined as the enemy, terrorism has won; if the governments that sponsor terrorism are the enemy, then terrorism can be defeated. As Israel learned in Lebanon, it was impossible to defeat Hizbullah while allowing that organization's Syrian, Iranian and Lebanese sponsors to remain effectively immune from attack.

"The Allies would never have won the war had they tried to prove which unit had attacked America and to punish that unit - rather than to defeat and replace the governments of Japan, Germany, and Italy.

Israeli experts will tell you the Free World must recognize that it is now in a war of self-defense whose goal must be uncompromising victory. "The concept of a war against terrorism is meaningless without the goal of removing terrorist regimes. The exact combination of military, economic and diplomatic means may be debated. But the war against terrorism must be a war against terrorist states such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, or the war will not be won." (Ibid., Sept. 13 ,01)

Krauthammer echoes this principle. "It is absurd to make war on the individuals who send these people. They need a territorial base of sovereign protection. For 30 years we have avoided this truth. If bin Laden was behind this, then Afghanistan is our enemy. Any country that harbors and protects him is our enemy. We must carry their war to them.

Netanyahu says it most forcefully: "It is not a question of looking for a particular needle in the haystack," he says to a question about who harbors responsibility for the attack. At the battle of Midway, the U.S. didn't just go after individual kamikazes. They went after the carriers. While it's impossible to stop each and every kamikaze attack, the 'carriers' are easily located: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, the Palestinian Authority and other regimes that sponsor, harbor or nod at terrorists." (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 14, 01)

The WSJ editorial states that if the U.S. is really at war, it must fight by wartime rules. "That means killing your enemy without the demands of due process or a permission slip from the World Court." Paul Bremer, former chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism, says the U.S. must deliver a clear ultimatum to terrorist states: Either you destroy the terrorist operations on your territory or we will. For example, Syria, with which we have regular diplomatic relations, still hosts over a dozen terrorist groups. So does Lebanon. This must stop-or be stopped."

The U.S. has much to overcome because as a democracy she does not have natural killer instincts. She is very reluctant to target the leading terrorists because that could be called assassination. On the other hand, if she takes ground troops into a nation, she could be accused of killing innocent citizens. The U.S.'s war against terrorism will be long and hard.

Netanyahu warns, "Then as now, the democracies were late in appreciating the horrendous implications to our society of a fanatic ideology bent on world domination and lacking any inhibition about destroying lives in the process.

"Hitler was working to develop nuclear weapons. If he had, our civilization would have come to an end. Today, for the second time in the modern era, we are faced with the possibility that weapons of mass destruction will fall in the hands of a maniacal movement.

"The battle lines are clear," says Netanyahu. "Those who support barbaric terror are dancing in Gaza and Ramallah, Beirut and Baghdad. Those who support freedom and democracy are grieving in New York and London, Paris and Tel Aviv."

“We could face terror and destruction on a scale that would dwarf even the horrors of Manhattan. This is the greatest danger we have ever faced. Until recently, no one dealt with it. The democracies have wasted too much time. They are approaching the 12th hour. They cannot wait any longer," Netanyahu said. (JP Sept 14, 01)

Tommy Lapid reflects, "Someone wrote this week that the Islamic terrorists are the new Nazis. When the Nazis began persecuting the Jews in the Thirties, the Jewish institutions tried to arouse public opinion in the Western world, but were not taken seriously. They were told: ‘What Hitler is doing to the Jews isn't nice, but it's not terrible.’ But this led in the end to the Second World War.

"Now history is repeating itself," says Lapid. "We tried to arouse world opinion against Islamic terror, but as long as they only killed Israelis, the world said: ‘It's not nice, but it's not terrible.’ The Americans now understand that it really is terrible. But this is only a warning," he declares.

“The attacks on the Pentagon and the twin towers of the WTC are only the first course on the menu. If the U.S. doesn't come to its senses and start to wage a war to the death against fanatic Islam and against international terrorism, it will also be served the main course. Because if Western civilization hasn't yet understood that its very existence lies in the balance, it will be wiped off the map, together with us," Lapid says. (Ibid., Sept. 14, 01)

Should America declare war against Islam? Clearly no, because there are many peace-loving Muslims and friendly Muslim states which oppose terrorism. But the American government must know what it is up against. President Bush's greatest need is prayer. And pray for the salvation of Israel, the apple of His eye.

And let us pray for the Arab peoples and other peoples dominated by Islam - that God would have mercy on them and liberate them from their oppressive fanatical religious rulers and send revival to the Muslim countries. Remember, the same demonic powers that want to destroy the Free World through fanatic Islam fundamentalism, equally intend to annihilate the Arab and Moslem nations. Satan intends to exterminate the human race. God intends to bring world revival.

What the Free World Doesn't Know About Terrorism

This is not a politically correct article. This newsletter is not normally political as our focus is on Israel's spiritual, prophetic resurrection. Nevertheless, some things need to be said.

President George Bush has clearly stated that America's war on terror is not a war against Islam. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is even gentler: "We are not at war against Islam or the Arab-Muslim world." "In fact," he said, "We are not at war." (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 16, 2001) The leaders of Great Britain and Germany are adamant that this conflict not be seen as the West against Islam. The Democratic Free World abhors war (for the most part) and intensely dislikes being seen as intolerant of other world religions.

This is where the problem lies. True, we are not at war with the world's Arab citizens who are among the most warm and hospitable of peoples. However, a powerful force known as radical Islam has declared war on us, whether we acknowledge it or not. Not all Muslims are at war with us; many are peace-loving peoples who have no ax to grind with the non-Muslim world. These moderate Muslims claim that Islam is against jihad (holy war), and it appears they genuinely believe that. But the fact is, there are fundamental elements in the Muslim religion that cause adherents in every major branch of Islam to be potentially deadly enemies of the Western democratic nations.

Here is the awful truth. Radical Islam is absolutely, utterly and totally at war with the world's Western Democratic nations.

The basic tenets of the Koran and canonized interpretations by its holy sages have given rise to the horrors now terrorizing the Western World. The "god" of the Islamic holy book, the Koran, calls for jihad against the infidels (non-Muslims) until Islam reigns supreme throughout the world. (David Dolan Sept. 17, 01 www.ddolan.com) As impossible as it is to comprehend, radical Islam's express goal is to destroy the democratic Free World physically and/or financially and to replace her with a fundamentalist Islamic world order.

TRUE BELIEVERS MUST FIGHT FOR ALLAH

Though moderate Muslims may quote seemingly peace-loving verses in the Koran, there are clearly other Islamic scriptures that have given license to any action that leads to the ultimate defeat of the infidels, who are particularly identified as Christians and Jews. Among them are those found in Sura 4:74 and 76: "Let those who would exchange the life of this world for the hereafter, fight for the cause of Allah; whether they die or conquer, We shall richly reward them…The true believers fight for the cause of Allah, but the infidels fight for their idols. Fight then against the friends of Satan." (David Dolan, Sept. 18, 01)

Sadly, Islamic preachers and scholars, using these verses from the Koran, are avidly encouraging suicide atrocities against the West - especially Christians and Jews who are the infidels. A few days before the terrorist attack in the U.S., the Jerusalem mufti (Islamic religious ruler) preached, "The White House will turn black, with God's help, and America, England and Israel should be destroyed." (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 16, 01) We must face the facts: The great majority of terrorist organizations in the entire world are devout fundamentalist Muslim. Other millions of Muslims sympathize with the goals and the methods of these killers. For example, eighty per cent of Palestinians are in favor of suicide terrorist attacks in Israel.

Tommy Lapid, member of the Israeli Knesset and head of the Shinui party, himself a holocaust survivor and professed atheist, says that the radical Islamics' target is the Judeo-Christian civilization that doesn't accept the Koran. To these Muslim radicals, says Lapid, "the U.S. and Israel are the large and the small devils, but Western and even Eastern Europe aren't much better. They must be destroyed in a world-embracing jihad in the name of Allah and his prophet, Muhammad." (Ibid., Sep. 14, 01)

Charles Krauthammer, the conservative Washington Post columnist, says it like it really is: "The enemy has identified itself in public and openly.Our delicate sensibilities have prevented us from pronouncing its name.

"Its name is radical Islam. Not Islam as practiced peacefully by millions of the faithful around the world. But a specific fringe political movement, dedicated to imposing its fanatical ideology on is own societies and destroying the society of its enemies, the greatest of which is the United States." (Ibid., Sept. 13,01)

With foresight that perhaps only a war-weary Israeli could have, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wrote in his book Fighting Terrorism in 1995: "Extremist Islamic terrorist organizations nullify in large measure the need to have air power or intercontinental missiles as delivery systems for an Islamic nuclear payload. The terrorists themselves will be the delivery system. In the worst of such scenarios, the consequences could be not a car bomb but a nuclear bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center.

"What this new terrorism portends for America and the world and what can be done about it has not yet been sufficiently understood. The growth of terrorism [is now] capable of bringing down entire buildings. The very real possibility that terrorist states and organizations may soon acquire horrific weapons of mass destruction and use them to escalate terrorism beyond our wildest nightmares has not yet been addressed properly by Western governments." Netanyahu goes on to say that with Iran and Iraq wielding atomic weapons, "the world is on the verge of an abyss and most political leaders have not properly gauged its depth." (Ibid., Sept. 14, 2001)

Tommy Lapid cautions, "As cruel and horrifying as were the death and destruction in Washington and New York, they were only a warning.

"This warning said, 'We, the terrorists, are sufficiently determined to execute the most daring missions; we are rich enough to finance missions costing a lot of money; we are sufficiently dedicated to our sacred ideal to commit suicide in its cause; we are sufficiently sophisticated to overcome all the police forces and intelligence organizations of the Western world; and we hate you so much that we will not hesitate to destroy your cities and wipe out millions of infidels like you if the opportunity arises.'" (Ibid., Sept.14, 01)

SUICIDE "MARTYRS" AWAIT THEIR HEAVENLY REWARD

A second component in Islam's holy literature has created the particular deadly cocktail of this 21st century. Islam teaches that heaven is a place of great erotic delights. On Sixty Minutes, Bob Simon interviewed Muhammad Abu Wardeh who told Simon, "God would compensate the martyr [i.e. suicide bombers and the like] for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness."

Although Arab Americans say that there is nothing in Islamic teachings about virgins or sex in paradise, Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, head of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community and a true Islamic scholar, lists a number of prominent Islamic references about the delights of sex with heavenly virgins. (They can be reviewed on www.jpost.com in the article by Naomi Ragen, Sept. 6, 01)

Through this teaching, says Ragen, "Horny Arab teenagers are being convinced the way to sex in the puritanical Arab world (where fathers routinely murder daughters who are even suspected of losing their virginity), is through hate-filled mass murders." (Ibid.)

USA Today ran a story on June 26, 2001 about young suicide bombers. They sent a reporter to Gaza and the West Bank to interview families of past and would-be suiciders.

"'I am very happy and proud of what my son did and, frankly, am a bit jealous,' says Hassan Hotari, 54, father of Saeed, the young man who carried out the attack June 1 outside a disco in Tel Aviv. It was Israel's worst suicide bombing in nearly four years. 'I wish I had done [the bombing]. My son has fulfilled the Prophet's [Mohammed's] wishes. He has become a hero! Tell me, what more could a father ask?'"

USA Today continues: "They [suicide bombers] are also promised something more risqué: unlimited sex with 72 virgins in heaven. The Koran, the sacred book of Islam, describes the women as 'beautiful like rubies, with complexions like diamonds and pearls.' In one of the passages of the Koran, it is said the martyrs and virgins shall 'delight themselves, lying on green cushions and beautiful carpets.'"

"'My prayer is that Saeed's brothers, friends and fellow Palestinians will sacrifice their lives, too,'" Hotari's father says. 'There is no better way to show God you love him.'" (USA Today)

This grotesque, counterfeit description of heaven gives the Islamic terrorist leaders hundreds, if not thousands, of ready candidates to kill themselves as they murder the enemies of Allah and of Islamic world objectives.

ISRAEL AND WORLD TERRORISM

In order for America to successfully fight world terrorism, it is paramount that its government understands that the nation of Israel is fighting for her existence against the same Islamic terrorist groups that hit New York and Washington. On September 14, the Jerusalem Post editors wrote, "Israel has one, supreme, interest at this time - to make the world understand that it is fighting the same evil empire of terror that attacked the United States. It cannot be taken for granted that this is understood…For the past year, we have been banging our head against the wall to get the world to understand that we are not in a 'cycle of violence' but defending ourselves against terror."

Succumbing to pressure from the West, Israel has again and again attempted to make peace with several terrorist organizations, under the auspices of terrorist Yasser Arafat. Now Israelis are saying, "Just as we are urging the United States not to distinguish between terrorists and their sponsors, we have to reexamine our own willingness to consider living next to a dictatorial Palestinian state that is part and parcel of a network of terrorist states and organizations… (JP Sept. 14 ,01) If the radical Islamic terrorist groups create a state next door to Israel, world terrorism will not be eradicated.

However, the Free World continues to somehow look at the Palestinian terrorists as a people's uprising against an occupying, illegitimate Israel which ought to give its country over to the oppressed Muslims. Much of the Free World DOES NOT SEE Arafat as a genuine terrorist. Already, the French Ambassador to Israel Jacques Huntzinger said, "We condemn the terrorist actions in Israel, but the conflict here should not be mixed up with what happened in the United States." Huntzinger explained the US attacks targeted civilians while the Middle East conflict is between nations.

Nations? The Palestinians have never been a nation. Only when Israel defeated the invading Jordanian army which had occupied the West Bank of the ancient land of Israel for 19 years - a land solemnly promised by God to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) - did local Arabs begin to call themselves Palestinians. Most of them had migrated from the surrounding areas to the Holy Land after the Jews began to clear the swamps and rebuild the desolate land in the 50 years preceding Israel’s independence.

The surrounding Arab nations care not a whit about these local Arabs who fled during two different united Arab attacks on the new Jewish nation. These Muslim nations simply realized they could mold these displaced persons into a powerful war machine against the hated infidels - the Jews. By not allowing these Arabs to receive citizenship and/or decent housing in the surrounding Arab nations, and forcing them to live in permanent refugee camps, they crafted out of the feckless peasants a seething, ready-made tool to push the hated Israelis out of the Middle East and into the sea.

Because Israel and the Jewish religion are clearly Islam's infidels, and because Israel happens to be located in the heart of the Islamic sea of nations, Israel became target number ONE in Islam's priority hit list. But there are others on the hit list.

The West just doesn't get it! Over the past few months, Colin Powell has consistently blasted Israel for her attempts to protect herself from terrorist attacks. He has told Israel to "lift the siege as soon as possible," and described Israel's defensive actions as “excessive and disproportionate." Powell has condemned Israel's policy of targeting leading terrorists (but is now considering its use in American operations.)

Israeli leaders becry the fact that the West naively sees Palestinian nationalism portrayed as having the relatively benign goal of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel. However, the Palestinian Authority actually broadcasts daily in Arabic its far more virulent goal of destroying Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state that stretches "from the river to the sea."

Israel's sheer military strength kept Palestinian ideology toned down for years. But when the Oslo process began in 1993 with Israel ready to negotiate peace with the terrorists, the Palestinians saw Israel as weakened and demoralized; Islam's goal was within reach! For that reason, even the U.S.'s "even-handed" attempts to mediate has brought Muslim fury on the U.S government and the American people. This is the reason that Palestinians were dancing in mass on their housetops after the suicide disasters occurred in the U.S.

And now Arafat, the supreme con-man, has told the U.S. that he and his guerrillas are ready to join America in its war against terrorism! That is certainly a wise decision, considering that he could possibly be mistaken for a terrorist himself! If it were not so incredibly dangerous it would be comical. Arafat, one of the most active terrorists on the planet, giving blood for New Yorkers. Arafat suddenly proclaiming a unilateral cessation of his armed guerrillas (who you can be sure will not abide by his "order.") And not only does he want to join the U.S. in its war against terrorism, he is calling on all Moslems states to join with him. It now appears that most of the principal terrorist states are ready to join the coalition against terrorism!

Yet, Arafat's TV station continues to call for total war against Israel. A typical recent statement about Israel that is constantly discharged through all means of Palestinian media: "All weapons must be aimed at the Jews…whom the Koran describes as monkeys and pigs…We will enter Jerusalem as conquerors…Blessings to him who shot a bullet into the head of a Jew." (Ibid., Aug. 31:01)

His terrorist associates broadcast similar epithets against the U.S. The Wall Street Journal admits, "Mr. Arafat and his colleagues have much to answer for. Through their controlled media, the Palestinians and even some of our 'moderate' Arab friends have spewed out anti-American hatred with impunity for years. They have created an environment that made possible the spectacle of schoolchildren in Gaza cheering the news of the American tragedies." (Sept. 14, 01)

Incidentally, this last bit of radical Islamic culture does not serve Arafat's purposes at this time; he has gone to incredible lengths to hush up the widespread Palestinian demonstrations of cheering and celebrating the U.S. catastrophe. The front page of the Jerusalem Post (Sept. 16, 01) states that the Palestinian Authority confiscated videotape, film and other camera equipment from the Palestinian cameramen who are hired by the major networks. The Reuter correspondent in Nablus not only agreed to the PA demand not to film any rally, but also attempted to press his AP counterpart to follow suit. He was unable to reach him in time and so some pictures did initially get out. The AP cameraman later received death threats.

Now it would appear that the American administration led by Powell is asking Israel to not respond to any terrorist attacks upon its people, but rather to continue negotiating with these terrorists. Do we understand that the final result of “successful negotiations” would be the setting up of a terrorist dictatorship on Israel's God-given land, a few minutes and a few miles away from all her major cities? Nevertheless, the U.S. is pressuring Israel so that there will be no disruption in the U.S. attempt to pull Muslim states into her coalition against terror.

ONLY AN ALL-OUT WAR WILL ISLAMIC TERRORISM

We must pray that America's leadership will understand this:

"The enemy is not merely Osama bin Laden or whatever terrorist organization carried out the monstrous attack. The enemy is the states that sponsor terrorists and the ideology that animates them. Merely killing bin Laden would be the equivalent of destroying a kamikaze or Nazi unit while leaving the wartime governments of Japan or Germany in place.

"If the bin Ladens of the world are defined as the enemy, terrorism has won; if the governments that sponsor terrorism are the enemy, then terrorism can be defeated. As Israel learned in Lebanon, it was impossible to defeat Hizbullah while allowing that organization's Syrian, Iranian and Lebanese sponsors to remain effectively immune from attack.

"The Allies would never have won the war had they tried to prove which unit had attacked America and to punish that unit - rather than to defeat and replace the governments of Japan, Germany, and Italy.

Israeli experts will tell you the Free World must recognize that it is now in a war of self-defense whose goal must be uncompromising victory. "The concept of a war against terrorism is meaningless without the goal of removing terrorist regimes. The exact combination of military, economic and diplomatic means may be debated. But the war against terrorism must be a war against terrorist states such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, or the war will not be won." (Ibid., Sept. 13 ,01)

Krauthammer echoes this principle. "It is absurd to make war on the individuals who send these people. They need a territorial base of sovereign protection. For 30 years we have avoided this truth. If bin Laden was behind this, then Afghanistan is our enemy. Any country that harbors and protects him is our enemy. We must carry their war to them.

Netanyahu says it most forcefully: "It is not a question of looking for a particular needle in the haystack," he says to a question about who harbors responsibility for the attack. At the battle of Midway, the U.S. didn't just go after individual kamikazes. They went after the carriers. While it's impossible to stop each and every kamikaze attack, the 'carriers' are easily located: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, the Palestinian Authority and other regimes that sponsor, harbor or nod at terrorists." (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 14, 01)

The WSJ editorial states that if the U.S. is really at war, it must fight by wartime rules. "That means killing your enemy without the demands of due process or a permission slip from the World Court." Paul Bremer, former chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism, says the U.S. must deliver a clear ultimatum to terrorist states: Either you destroy the terrorist operations on your territory or we will. For example, Syria, with which we have regular diplomatic relations, still hosts over a dozen terrorist groups. So does Lebanon. This must stop-or be stopped."

The U.S. has much to overcome because as a democracy she does not have natural killer instincts. She is very reluctant to target the leading terrorists because that could be called assassination. On the other hand, if she takes ground troops into a nation, she could be accused of killing innocent citizens. The U.S.'s war against terrorism will be long and hard.

Netanyahu warns, "Then as now, the democracies were late in appreciating the horrendous implications to our society of a fanatic ideology bent on world domination and lacking any inhibition about destroying lives in the process.

"Hitler was working to develop nuclear weapons. If he had, our civilization would have come to an end. Today, for the second time in the modern era, we are faced with the possibility that weapons of mass destruction will fall in the hands of a maniacal movement.

"The battle lines are clear," says Netanyahu. "Those who support barbaric terror are dancing in Gaza and Ramallah, Beirut and Baghdad. Those who support freedom and democracy are grieving in New York and London, Paris and Tel Aviv."

“We could face terror and destruction on a scale that would dwarf even the horrors of Manhattan. This is the greatest danger we have ever faced. Until recently, no one dealt with it. The democracies have wasted too much time. They are approaching the 12th hour. They cannot wait any longer," Netanyahu said. (JP Sept 14, 01)

Tommy Lapid reflects, "Someone wrote this week that the Islamic terrorists are the new Nazis. When the Nazis began persecuting the Jews in the Thirties, the Jewish institutions tried to arouse public opinion in the Western world, but were not taken seriously. They were told: ‘What Hitler is doing to the Jews isn't nice, but it's not terrible.’ But this led in the end to the Second World War.

"Now history is repeating itself," says Lapid. "We tried to arouse world opinion against Islamic terror, but as long as they only killed Israelis, the world said: ‘It's not nice, but it's not terrible.’ The Americans now understand that it really is terrible. But this is only a warning," he declares.

“The attacks on the Pentagon and the twin towers of the WTC are only the first course on the menu. If the U.S. doesn't come to its senses and start to wage a war to the death against fanatic Islam and against international terrorism, it will also be served the main course. Because if Western civilization hasn't yet understood that its very existence lies in the balance, it will be wiped off the map, together with us," Lapid says. (Ibid., Sept. 14, 01)

Should America declare war against Islam? Clearly no, because there are many peace-loving Muslims and friendly Muslim states which oppose terrorism. But the American government must know what it is up against. President Bush's greatest need is prayer. And pray for the salvation of Israel, the apple of His eye.

And let us pray for the Arab peoples and other peoples dominated by Islam - that God would have mercy on them and liberate them from their oppressive fanatical religious rulers and send revival to the Muslim countries. Remember, the same demonic powers that want to destroy the Free World through fanatic Islam fundamentalism, equally intend to annihilate the Arab and Moslem nations. Satan intends to exterminate the human race. God intends to bring world revival.